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It was not pretty watching Johan Ackermann’s Gloucester thoroughly outplayed in the opening quarter against the Tigers. But, like the new head coach said, 21-0 after 20 minutes could have turned into an embarrassment. It didn’t, and we need to see more of the Gloucester of the last hour in the rest of the season.

Gloucester’s unfortunate summer – losing Jonny May late and Carl Fearns to French euros – means Ackermann inherits a squad significantly weaker than he expected. It means the big South African has considerable breathing space when it comes to the performances of the Cherry and Whites this season.

Carl Fearns

In terms of league position, if Gloucester finished in the top six it would be viewed as a big success for the new head coach. That level of expectation is significantly lower that recent years, but it won’t last for ever.

There is a strikingly familiar feeling about being 10 in the Aviva Premiership table. When Gloucester first finished in the lower echelons of the table, it was viewed as a blip, but it has become the norm.

Leicester welcomed the Cherry and Whites with two defeats in their opening two matches. The Tigers do not look a team who are going to be top four at the end of the season, but Gloucester were still nowhere near them for 20 minutes.

There has to be a certain patience that this is the start of yet another rebuilding phase, and that Gloucester are not on the financial level of the top teams.

The Cherry and Whites have to regularly overperform to compete against the best teams, and that is extremely difficult to do.

It’s all very well getting up for a big game every now and again, but to do it consistently is the challenge facing all those at Kingsholm.

The fans will expect Gloucester to put Worcester away

Worcester are next up for Gloucester at Kingsholm, having lost all their first three games of the season.

The Warriors have traditionally been a side Gloucester have found it difficult to play against, finding themselves stifled by their opponents from up the M5.

The kind of rugby promised by new coach Johan Ackermann should mean fewer examples of limited sides coming and drawing the Cherry and Whites into a slug fest.

Better forward displays are promised, and although Ackermann’s rein is only three games old, there has been evidence of more resilience about Gloucester.

At Kingsholm, against the bottom side in the league, the fans expect Gloucester to put away Worcester.

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Historically, those hasn’t been the case, so this represents a good opportunity for Ackermann to show some of the impact he has had in his short time at the club.

Worcester should not be able to draw Gloucester into a forward battle and reduce the game to tit for tat penalties, particularly at Kingsholm.

Gloucester beat the top side in the league on the opening day, and now they face the bottom side. While the Exeter victory was encouraging, dispatching a less high-profile side like the Warriors would feel like a better statement.

The fans want to see Gloucester dominate Worcester and take a regulation victory. They do not want confirmation the Warriors are a side capable of causing the Cherry and Whites problems this season.

May's departure must have left open wounds at Kingsholm

It seems a bit simple to say ‘at least Jonny May didn’t score’, but I’m sure that was a motivational factor for Gloucester ahead of the Leicester clash.

The manner in which May left the club over the summer has to have left a few open wounds at Kingsholm, no matter what the players and staff at the club say.

Jonny May of Leicester runs with the ball during the Aviva Premiership match between Leicester Tigers and Gloucester Rugby at Welford Road

The Cherry and Whites were preparing for a new season with May as a central part of the side. Then, suddenly, he was a Leicester player. How can that not be a focus of the build up to the first meeting between the two sides?

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On the flipside, Ed Slater had to face his old teammates for the first time having been the ‘victim’ in the swap deal that saw May move the other way.

Slater has impressed since coming to Kingsholm, particularly when the feeling was Gloucester were on the wrong end of the exchange.

The former Leicester captain has proved Gloucester have got themselves no dud – in fact, they have a physical and established lock who knows what he’s about.

The initial feeling when Gloucester swapped May for Slater was that it was a terrible deal for the Cherry and Whites. But after the first few games of the season, those conclusions are at the least being reconsidered.